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So, what are my alternatives here?
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perry  
#1 Posted : Thursday, January 2, 2025 3:40:14 PM(UTC)
perry

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I've been using ViaCAD Pro since version 11 or so, and while some versions improved, it has all fallen apart with recent releases. I'm on an M2 Mac Studio at work, and an M3 Laptop at home. I need something that can run on both of those, without a million weird bugs. ViaCAD, at the moment, is not that application.

I'm an occasional user and have always recommended ViaCAD when people ask. It's sad that after so many years they seem to have simply decided to keep taking money from customers without actually improving things. I upgraded to 14 earlier this year and all kinds of stuff is broken for me so I think I'm done here.

What are the alternatives that tick all these boxes:

* Mac Native (not emulation, not virtual windows environment, not bootcamp into Windows) on newer CPUs?
* Not a subscription-based app
* Not outrageously expensive (under $500 for a perpetual license I can run on two machines -one at a time - would be ideal)
* Not made by Autodesk. I won't use their crappy software, which is why I switched to ViaCAD in the first place.

I took a look at MoI, which someone else recommended in another thread and I don't think it's ready for prime time.
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UGMENTALCASE  
#2 Posted : Friday, January 3, 2025 12:46:45 AM(UTC)
UGMENTALCASE

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Depends what you want to produce but Plasticity 3d is literally awesome! Non history based modelling but they have recently introduce a way to add dimensions and drive hole/boss/face movements using the dimension tool.

No 2d drafting element to it, huge following on discord, the studio license is the better one, gives install on 4 machines if I remember rightly and 1 year maintenance from date of purchase. Seems to run almost monthly updates/additions, if you get studio license you get access to beta and all that through discord.
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perry on 1/3/2025(UTC)
perry  
#3 Posted : Friday, January 3, 2025 7:51:06 AM(UTC)
perry

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ooh. thanks. I've never heard of it but it looks promising and the price is right. I'll give it a try.
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MPSchmied  
#4 Posted : Friday, January 3, 2025 8:28:02 AM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: perry Go to Quoted Post
I upgraded to 14 earlier
That was a mistake. Why didn’t you wait for version 15? The bugs in version 14 were all discussed here. Sometimes you need to keep an eye on the forum.

OS: Windows 10 | CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700 | RAM: 32 GB | Graphic: AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 | SharkCAD 15 Pro | Unit: mm
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perry  
#5 Posted : Friday, January 3, 2025 10:46:32 AM(UTC)
perry

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Quote:
That was a mistake


Well, v12 is utterly broken on my M3 MacBook at home, so I had to upgrade to 14 at the time because it was the only one supposedly supported by the newer OS I was running on that machine. But it simply does not work reliably on that machine. v15 wasn't an option when I upgraded to 14, and the only new features being discussed were AI-related, not bug fixes. Even so, even v15 isn't Apple Silicon native, it's running in Rosetta, which means it's more resource intensive and slower on a machine that may be running a few other apps at the same time.

I'll be honest - The only good upgrade was from 11 to 12 for me. (And looking back, I've actually been on ViaCAD since v9). v12 was stable, if still a bit buggy. My interest in spending hundreds of dollars on new versions of this application is extremely low at this point, because most of the upgrades I've done have been pretty disappointing. The development is glacial, longstanding bugs aren't fixed, features were removed without notice (like STEP export), support is slow, I could go on.

I only check this forum occasionally because I'm not a daily user. I do a few projects a year.
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perry  
#6 Posted : Friday, January 3, 2025 10:54:10 AM(UTC)
perry

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Originally Posted by: UGMENTALCASE Go to Quoted Post
Depends what you want to produce but Plasticity 3d is literally awesome! Non history based modelling but they have recently introduce a way to add dimensions and drive hole/boss/face movements using the dimension tool.

No 2d drafting element to it, huge following on discord, the studio license is the better one, gives install on 4 machines if I remember rightly and 1 year maintenance from date of purchase. Seems to run almost monthly updates/additions, if you get studio license you get access to beta and all that through discord.


I've been playing with it all morning and watching some videos. It is indeed very impressive. A lot of what I make is stuff I'm going to either 3D print or cut on my CNC mill, so my big concern with Plasticity is with iterative design. The measure/dimension tools look to take care of a lot of issues (like resizing a hole). But it doesn't seem to work well if you have already applied a chamfer or fillet to that feature. The other feature it's missing is the ability to export out a 2D drawing. Occasionally I send stuff out to be made, and they require a 2D PDF with measurements to double check the finished product against. That may be a problem, though it's possible I could import it into ViaCAD. I just don't expect ViaCAD to remain usable for me with any OS updates, if I don't also keep it updated.

I don't think I need parametric modeling per-se. I mean I don't really do that in ViaCAD - history is nice, but again I don't really need that if I can directly and numerically manipulate things. I do need to be able to reliably resize and reposition features when i inevitably find out something was wrong. It does look feasible with simpler designs in Plasticity, but I worry that it's just not the focus and may not be suitable for what I'm doing. That said, I'm going to continue to play with it. I think I have a decent handle on the UI after a couple hours and a few tutorial videos.

One thing I will say - it's lightning fast, very responsive, and feels much more modern than ViaCAD. The UI isn't completely insane like Fusion, and so far it's completely stable. I haven't had a single crash in the 3 hours since I installed it and have had it open. I certainly can't say the same about ViaCAD 14...

Edited by user Friday, January 3, 2025 10:55:28 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified
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UGMENTALCASE  
#7 Posted : Friday, January 3, 2025 12:40:47 PM(UTC)
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I don't do a huge amount with it, but you can always change the surface selection only, pick the chamfer/fillet and hit delete, and it'll resolve that. Are you saying if the hole has a chamfer on it and then you try and move it?
Never tried to be honest but I'll have a look for you.
It's come a long way since it started, the xnurbs and "square" functions they have added are amazing, bridging surfaces and all that good stuff.
An option would be to import the finished model back to v11 and do a 2d print of it. Not ideal, because, if you're like me, you want everything in one place the drawing side of it does let it down, but it's not that type of program. Just strictly modelling, but like MOI.

I've used it a lot to do work for someone who does printing. Filling in open bodies so they print better etc. The keyboard shortcuts you slowly get used to, but before I boolean my solids, I'll select them all, duplicate them, rename the layer then boolean away.

Edited by user Friday, January 3, 2025 12:42:42 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified
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perry  
#8 Posted : Friday, January 3, 2025 1:11:14 PM(UTC)
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I've been watching videos all day, and reading the Plasticity subreddit as well as the discord channel. Someone linked to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kATCRYZKE7U

Which basically walks through the issues with the measure and dimension tools. He starts right out by saying you need to use those early on, before adding finishing touches to the model. Which is fine in theory, until you make a real life version of it and realize you messed up a measurement or something, and need to move things around. I found that moving things was fairly simple and intuitive once I got the sequence down, but I haven't tried it on features with chamfers or fillets yet.
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UGMENTALCASE  
#9 Posted : Saturday, January 4, 2025 6:38:07 AM(UTC)
UGMENTALCASE

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On the discord there is a video showing if you have a hole in a part, you can add a dimension between the hole and the edge of part (for example) then click the holes surface (and chamfer if you have one) and activate the move tool (keyboard 'g') and the dimension lines becomes underlined, you can then click the dimension and edit it.
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thanks 2 users thanked UGMENTALCASE for this useful post.
ZeroLengthCurve on 1/4/2025(UTC), perry on 1/6/2025(UTC)
perry  
#10 Posted : Monday, January 6, 2025 9:41:43 AM(UTC)
perry

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Originally Posted by: UGMENTALCASE Go to Quoted Post
On the discord there is a video showing if you have a hole in a part, you can add a dimension between the hole and the edge of part (for example) then click the holes surface (and chamfer if you have one) and activate the move tool (keyboard 'g') and the dimension lines becomes underlined, you can then click the dimension and edit it.


Yeah I've been playing with it for a few days and so far I haven't run into any issues. I need to design a part for my new CNC mill, so I think I'm going to try that in Plasticity and see how it works. It's pretty straightforward - just a rectangle with some counterbored holes, but it'll be a good test case.
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